History of Leeds City F.C.
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| Full name | Leeds City Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Peacocks The Citizens City |
| Founded | 1904 1924 2005 |
| Dissolved | 1919 1927 |
| Ground | Adel War Memorial Association Leeds West Yorkshire |
| League | West Yorkshire League Premier Division |
| 2015–16 | West Yorkshire League Premier Division, 3rd |
Leeds City Football Club is a non-league football club that was the leading professional club in Leeds, England, before World War I. The original club was dissolved in 1919 due to financial irregularities and current club was founded in 2005.
The club was formed in 1904, taking the crest of Leeds as the club badge and adopting blue, yellow and white as the club's colours. With the demise of the Holbeck Rugby Club, Leeds City moved into Elland Road stadium. They were elected to the Football League in 1905. The original secretary, a role that then also carried the modern responsibilities of manager and coach, was Gilbert Gillies (1904–1908) who was followed by Frank Scott-Walford before in 1912, they appointed Herbert Chapman who guided the club to their highest position in the league (4th in the Second Division).
Leeds City's whole league career was in the Second Division. However, during the First World War there ensued a sequence of financial irregularities, including breaking the ban on paying players during the war, that led to the club's dissolution in 1919. They were expelled from The Football League eight games into the 1919–20 season. The harsh punishment was handed down mostly because of the behaviour of the club's directors, who refused to co-operate in an FA inquiry, and refused to hand over the club's financial records.
Port Vale took over their remaining fixtures (as well as their results up to that point). Leeds City remain the only club to be expelled from the League mid-season, and the only ones to be expelled from the League due to financial irregularities (ironically enough their successors, Port Vale nearly lost their League status for similar reasons in 1968, although they ultimately managed to retain it in an end-of-season vote among the other clubs). On 17 October 1919, an auction was held at the Metropole Hotel in Leeds, where the playing staff was auctioned off along with other assets of the club. The 16 members of the playing squad were bought by nine different clubs for a total of £9,250.
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